Maria Giulia Franzoni PhD thesis

253 Pages·2017·4.43 MB·English

A PHILOSOPHY AS OLD AS HOMER :
GIACOMO LEOPARDI AND GREEK POETIC PESSIMISM

Maria Giulia Franzoni

A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD
at the
University of St Andrews

2017

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A Philosophy as Old as Homer:
Giacomo Leopardi and Greek Poetic Pessimism

Maria Giulia Franzoni

This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of
PhD in Classics at the University of St Andrews

nd
22 November 2016
This is what I said to myself, almost as if that painful philosophy
were of my own invention […] But then, thinking it over,
I remembered that it was as new as Solomon and Homer
and the most ancient poets and philosophers we know […]

Giacomo Leopardi, Dialogo di Tristano e di un amico

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I Maria Giulia Franzoni, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 80.000 words in length,
has been written by me, and that it is the record of work carried out by me, or principally by myself in
collaboration with others as acknowledged, and that it has not been submitted in any previous application
for a higher degree.
I was admitted as a research student in September 2012 and as a candidate for the degree of PhD in
Classics in 2 0 t h J u n e 2 0 1 7 ; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the
University of St Andrews between 2 0 1 2 and 2 0 1 6 .

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qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree.

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Abstract

The aim of this thesis is twofold: it explores Giacomo Leopardi’s (1798-1837)
interpretation of, and engagement with, Greek pessimistic thought and, through him, it
investigates the complex and elusive phenomenon of Greek pessimistic thought itself.

This thesis contends that Greek pessimistic thought – epitomised by but not limited to
the famous wisdom of Silenus, the µὴ φῦναι topos – is an important element of Greek
thought, a fundamental part of some of Greece’s greatest literary works, and a vital
element in the understanding of Greek culture in general. Yet this aspect of ancient
thought has not yet received the attention it deserves, and in the history of its
interpretation it has often been forgotten, denied, or purposefully obliterated.

Furthermore, the pessimistic side of Greek thought plays a crucial role in both the
modern history of the interpretation of antiquity and the intellectual history of Europe; I
argue that this history is fundamentally incomplete without the appreciation of
Leopardi’s role in it. By his study of and engagement with ancient sources Leopardi
contributed to the 19th century rediscovery of Greek pessimistic wisdom, alongside,
though chronologically before, the likes of Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche,
and Jacob Burckhardt.

Having outlined some fundamental steps in the history of the reception of Greek
pessimism, this thesis examines the cardinal components of Leopardi’s reception of it:
his use of Greek conceptions of humanity to undermine modernity’s anthropocentric
fallacy, his reinterpretation of the Homeric simile of the leaves and its pessimistic
undertones, and his views on the idea that it would be best for man not to be born.

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A Silvia Munari,
grande maestra,
per il mio primo Leopardi.

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Acknowledgments

The most heartfelt thank you goes to my supervisor, Stephen Halliwell. I could not be
more grateful for the chance of working on this topic and for the unwavering support,
but I am most of all in awe of the matchless inspiration he has provided me with,
fuelling so beautifully and continuously my passion for research.

I am indebted to more people than I can mention for support, advice, and presence
during these four years, first and foremost my family and grandparents, for their love,
help, and presence, which no words can do justice to.

I wish to thank in particular Nuria Scapin for the countless and fervent discussions on
Greek thought and on the role of literature; Emanuele Dattilo and Anthony Ellis for
their irreplaceable intellectual support; Elisabetta Grisendi, Giulia Sagliardi, and
Raphaëla Dubreuil for their friendship, inspiration, and presence in these years. Many
thanks also to my second supervisor Jon Hesk, for the generous help and availability
throughout the PhD. A big thank you to the Classics crowds at the Universities of St
Andrews and Edinburgh, to Davide Messina, Nicolò Maldina and Carlo Pirozzi at the
Italian Department in Edinburgh, and to the marvellous people at 181 Bruntsfield Place.

I am greatly indebted to my MSc supervisor, Michael Lurie, for sparking my interest in,
and passion for, Leopardi’s connections with Greek pessimism. I also wish to thank
Professor Glenn W. Most for his kind and extremely helpful advice during the initial
stages of this thesis. Many thanks to Julia Smith, Nikoletta Manioti, and Ben Naylor for
their help in the final stages of revision.

My deepest gratitude goes to my partner Tom Mayo, whose continuous support cannot
be put into words.

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A Philosophy as Old as Homer:
Giacomo Leopardi and Greek Poetic Pessimism

INTRODUCTION

I. Leopardi and the Pessimistic Philosophy of Ancient Poetry..................................1
1. Poetry and Philosophy
2. The Philosophy of Ancient Poetry
3. Ancient Poetic Pessimism

II. Literature, Methods, and Structure.........................................................................8
1. Research So Far, and Some Questions of Method
2. Structure

CHAPTER 1
Τὸ µὲν δὴ πανταχοῦ θρυλούµενον: Modernity and Greek Pessimism

I. An Old Question: The Greeks and Pessimism........................................................16
1. The Ancients on the Ancients: Towards a History of the µὴ φῦναι
2. Were the Greeks Pessimists?

II. A Modern History of Ancient Pessimism...............................................................27
1. The Querelle Des Anciens et Des Modernes
2. Jean-Jacques Barthélemy: Moralism and the Disguise of Philosophy
3. A Different Tyranny: Pessimistic Greece in 19th Century Germany
4. Conclusion: Leopardi’s Role and the Destiny of Greek Pessimism

CHAPTER 2
Animals and Humans, Animals on Humans.............................55

I. Leopardi and the Reception of Lucian.....................................................................58
1. Of Gods and Fish: Leopardi, Lucian, and Insightful Distance
2. “À la manière de Lucien”, “Alla maniera di Luciano”
3. Lucian and Leopardi, So Far

II. Μύρµακες ἀνάριθµοι: Anthropocentrism and The Place of Man.......................69
1. Numberless and Insignificant
2. View from Vesuvius: La ginestra and the Trope of the Ants
3. Lucianic Mountains and Ancient Ants
4. Giving Things Names: Man’s Naming Obsession and What are Men?
5. Il Copernico: Heliocentrism and the Scala Naturae
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III. (Speaking) Animals and the Human Condition...................................................91
1. Life of Men, Life of Animals: Lucian’s Gallus
2. Homeric Comparatives and the “Preeminence of Unhappiness”

CHAPTER 3
Oἵη περ φύλλων γενεή: Ancient Ideas of Ephemerality......................102

I. Leopardi and the Trope of the Leaves: From the First Homeric Readings to the
Simonidean Translations (1809-1824) ......................................................................105
1. Germinating from the Sources: XLI and Botanical Language
2. Umana cosa picciol tempo dura: Brevity and Ephemerality
2.1. A New Verse: Οὐδὲν ἐν ἀνθρώποισι µένει χρῆµ’ ἔµπεδον αἰεί
2.2. Leaves and the Brevity of Human Life
2.3. “Umana cosa picciol tempo dura”: Leaves and the Precariousness of Human Life

II. Ephemerality, the Operette, and the Zibaldone (from 1823) ..............................130
1. Ἐφήµερος, Pindar and Simonides – 1823-1824
2. Plants and Insects: The Zibaldone (1826-1827)

III. Schopenhauer, Greek Leaves, and Leopardi.....................................................143

CHAPTER 4
Human Questions, Divine Answers: Silenic Wisdom and the Worth of Existence

I. Leopardi and the µὴ φῦναι: Brief Notes on an Encounter...................................154
1. Biographical Data and Biblical Wisdom
2. The µὴ φῦναι: Existing Research, Barthélemy, and a Problem in Focus

II. Greek Stories of Non-Existence.............................................................................161
1. Sappho, Existence, and Homeric Pessimism
2. “Favole” or the Art of Facing the Truth: A Note on Interpreting Fiction
2.1. Lucian’s Chiron: Anything But Life
2.2. Of Gods and Life: A Note on Divine Opinions
3. Pessimism and “Greekness”: a Thracian Anecdote
4. A Homeric Topos: Epic Wishes and the Questioning of Existence

EPILOGUE.......................................................190
APPENDIX.......................................................193
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................210

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